Investigating Network Management/Monitoring Tools

Purpose:

Procedure:

Boot into Linux.

Linux Journal's Jan 2014 Issue listed these tools in their "Best Monitoring Applications":

• nagios (vtn2: this is a big package, very powerful, and takes a good bit of time to customize)
• wireshark
• htop
• zabbix
• zenoss
• pc monitor
• munin
  
• new relic
  
• saltstack
  
• monit
  
• ntm (network traffic monitor)
  
• flowviewer
  
• opsview
  
• manage engine
  
• syspeek
  
• circonus
  
• xosview
  
• icinga

This blog also lists quite a few free tools:

http://www.gfi.com/blog/the-top-20-free-network-monitoring-and-analysis-tools-for-sys-admins/

Many of the packages listed above are quite big and may be difficult to install and configure.

But, here are some very good and powerful command-line tools. These should be easy to download and install.

• mtr -- this is just a fancy traceroute: don't install and report on this tool.
• nuttcp
• iperf/iperf3
• UDPmon
• pathrate/pathload
• others, at http://fasterdata.es.net/performance-testing/network-troubleshooting-tools/

In groups of 2 (at most), download and install one of these packages. Write up a paragraph description of what the tool does and how it could be used to detect network problems or monitor network behavior.